Vienna fights: 85% of elementary school students have catastrophic knowledge of German!

Vienna fights: 85% of elementary school students have catastrophic knowledge of German!

According to Mahrer, almost 50 percent of elementary school children in Vienna speak German so badly that they cannot follow the lessons. In districts such as Margarethen, over 70 percent of the children cannot be sufficiently German, while in favorites and Brigittenau more than 60 percent are affected. The educational mandate can hardly be met under these conditions, says Mahrer.

Need for a German support plan

The Viennese ÖVP therefore calls for the introduction of a comprehensive German support plan. This should include several measures, including:

• Language status assessment for all children from the age of three.
• three -year kindergarten obligation for children with inadequate knowledge of German.
• Review of the kindergartens and awarding funding only with active support for children when learning German.

The educational directorate has so far not been specifically commented on the figures of the first elementary school classes. However, the last official information stated that 21 percent of elementary school children have difficulties with the German language. Education City Councilor Bettina Emmerling (NEOS) emphasized that the children's knowledge of German is already being checked in kindergarten age. In the current school year, almost 60,000 tests were carried out to review the knowledge of German.

Minister of Education Christoph Return (NEOS) also plans to introduce a second mandatory kindergarten year by 2027 to improve the language stand of the children. This could possibly help relieve the problems mentioned.

challenges through language deficits

Another concerned aspect is the "extraordinary status" of almost 45 percent of the Viennese school beginners due to lack of knowledge of German. Many of these children were born in Austria and often spent several years in kindergarten. Nevertheless, almost 50 percent of the students in Vienna's schools do not speak German as a first language.

The situation continues to be problematic, since 65 percent of the students do not speak German in everyday life and many children have Arabic or Turkish as first language. Critics point out that German support classes and courses that have existed since 2018 do not bring the hoped -for progress with up to 20 hours of intensive language lessons. The progress in language support is generally assessed as manageable, and there is concern that these classes contribute to segregation instead of integration.

children in German funding classes often feel isolated and have difficulties to approach regularly in regular classes. In addition, the MIKA D test, which is used to measure the knowledge of German, is criticized as unsuitable. The challenge could further tighten, since between 2023 and 2024 around 300 new students came to Vienna without school experience, especially through family reunification from Syria.

Although orientation classes for these newly arriving students have been set up, it remains questionable whether two months of intensive language lessons are sufficient. The majority of these children with "extraordinary status" was born in Austria, which indicates failures in early childhood language support. Currently there is a lack of sustainable strategies for the involvement of parents and an appreciation of the languages ​​of origin. This situation carries the risk of social and economic problems in the long term.